forum: Food & Drink

Re: Greek food, with love

We had a large Greek migrations here after the war and by the time I was out of the family home Greek food was changing the culture. Garlic, eggplant, zucchini and red peppers I first tried through the Greek owned greengrocers.

And then came souvlaki! Being vegetarian then I would confuse shopkeepers outside Melbourne by asking for vegetarian souvlaki, but they always managed to give me the toasted flat bread filled with salad and drizzled with the tzatziki sauce. In Melbourne city they knew!

Late at night we went to Stalactites Greek Restaurant, it is still there! http://www.stalactites.com.au/ and ate dips and dolmades. (PS Note vegetarian souvlaki on the menu!). It used to have a roof made to look like a crystal cave with polystyrene sculpting and a bit of fluorescent paint! lol, It was great though!

And then there were the wonders of filo pastry and spanakopita! I made a lovely vegetarian moussaka (still haven't tried a meat one!).

I have more Greek recipes in my repertoire, but that was my introduction!

Re: Greek food, with love

Joy, didn't Melbourne at one stage have the world's largest Greek population outside Greece? I know that quite a few of my in-laws' relatives migrated to Melbourne. Quite a lot to Newcastle, too, where they opened cafes, mainly.

Re: Greek food, with love

That is true Maree, for quite a while we were the worlds second largest Greek population (by city): Athens being the largest!

My suburb was one with a high Greek population and it is still obvious in the local shopping centre: cafe's where all the cakes are Greek, and the tailor! And I think my favourite small supermarket in the area is Diana's which still caters for the Greek population.

Re: Greek food, with love

Greeks tend to eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan food due to numerous religious fasting days. We have a 40-50 day period of Lent leading up to Easter, a 2-week lent in the beginning of August, and various scattered days during the rest of the year. It seems like people are always fasting.

Fasting in orthodoxy means not eating meat or fish, sometimes not eating dairy and occasionally not eating oil. For very religious people they will not eating meat on any Friday.

For this reason we have lots of vegan dishes like stuffed tomatoes and peppers, legumes, and vegetable stews. Surprisingly, some seafood is considered ok to eat while fasting because it does not have blood running through its veins. This includes octopus, squid, clams, mussels, etc.

Re: Greek food, with love

Living in Cyprus I can lay my hands on most things necessary to make good Greek home cooking. I love an Octopus stew in red wine, or a moussaka - cuttlefish straight of the barbie - so many good things to eat. We also eat a lot of Middle Eastern food and particularly like the way they marinate their meat.

Re: Greek food, with love

That doesn't sound too hard. I can get caul fat easily here. In fact, I buy caul fat at Easter and we wrap the lamb in it as it spins on the spit. We also make frigadelia which are lamb livers wrapped in caulfat and then grilled. I'm not a big fan of those but our guests are.

Re: Greek food, with love

Tzatziki - if you use low-fat greek yogurt, tzatziki can be a lovely and healthy accompaniment to almost any meal. Greeks love mixing tzatziki with rice, using it as a dip for bread or pita, and served along with meat dishes. You can top baked potatoes, use it as a salad dressing, or even spread it on a sandwich instead of mayo. I usually have a bit of it in my fridge for these purposes.

1. After you grate the cucumber put it in a small sieve and toss in some salt. Allow the cucumber juice to drain as much as possible, occassionally pressing it to allow more liquid to drain. 2. To the cucumber add finely minced garlic and combine all the ingredients together. Taste for seasoning.

Sometimes herbs are added. If I'm serving it with lamb or pork I add chopped fresh mint or parsley. Sometimes I add dill and/or scallion. A little squeeze of lemon brightens it up. Using greek yogurt and draining the cucumber really helps make it a thick consistency and not too thinned out.

Become a member of jamieoliver.com for free and access loads of lovely stuff around the site.
You'll get Jamie's latest recipes and food tips direct to your inbox, take advantage of exclusive promotions and offers, ask
Jamie and his team questions in the forums and enjoy your weekly newsletter too.

By submitting this form you consent to receiving news and updates from businesses in the Jamie Oliver Group of companies and the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. You also agree to our terms and conditions found here.

I am not a robot.

We'd love to get to know you a bit better so we only send you

news and recipes that you want to read. If you've got two

minutes to spare, it would be great if you could answer a quick questionnaire.